Under the U.S. Constitution,
the President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief
of all military forces. At the time of the attack on Pearl
Harbor, Roosevelt exercised this power through the service
chiefs, but the need for better interservice cooperation
prompted the establishment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a
formal body on 9 February 1942.

Kimmel was officially
Commander, U.S. Fleet, but had effective command only over
the Pacific Fleet. This confused command arrangement was
resolved by making King both Chief of Naval Operations and
Commander, U.S. Fleet, and making Nimitz Commander,
Pacific Fleet.

Responsible for patrolling
U.S. possessions in the Far East. With no unit larger than a
cruiser, it could not
possibly stand up for long against Combined Fleet,
and in fact the Philippines
had been effectively written off in Navy pre-war planning.
With the destruction of MacArthur's air
power on the first day of the war, Hart withdrew all his
forces except for submarines
and some small units. This created lasting bitterness in
MacArthur towards the Navy.

The Marine Corps was a
distinct service within the Navy Department. As such, it
reported directly to the Secretary of the Navy. For our
purposes, we trace its command chain back to the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.

This was the top command for
all Marines not
assigned to individual ships. At
the time war broke out in the Pacific, it consisted of the 1
and 2 Marine Divisions,
their supporting air wings,
and a large number of Marine defense
battalions. Only those units that were located
in the Pacific are listed here.

15 officers, 373 men, 6 5”
guns, 12 3” AA guns.
Elements of the battalion were deployed to Johnston Island and
Palmyra Island while
a rear echelon with most of the heavy equipment remained at
Pearl Harbor.

California, Nevada, and Utah
National Guard. Not
triangularized until September 1942. At that time its
regiments were the 108, 160, and 185
Regiments,
with 184 Regiment being
reassigned to Western Defense Command. Participated in the Bismarcks,
southern Philippines,
and Luzon campaigns

Washington, Oregon, Idaho,
and Montana National
Guard. Still square, consisting of 81 and 82 Brigades.
Triangulatized 1942-8-3 and then composed of 162, 163,
and 186 Regiments, with 161 Regiment being reassigned to 25 Division. Participated in the New Guinea, Luzon, and southern Philippine
campaigns. Known to the Japanese as "the butchers" because
of their refusal to give quarter.

Composed of 51, 52, and 53 Philippine Regiments.
Performed badly during the Bataan
campaign. Training and
equipment were incomplete, and most of the men spoke
Bicolian while most of the officers spoke Tagalog. Jones
believed only 52 Regiment was capable of effective
resistance.

A Regular Army division
(10,223 men) consisting of Americans and Philippine Scouts.
Composed of 31, 45, and 57
Regiments. 31 Regiment was exclusively Americans while the
other regiments were primarily Philippine Scouts.